What you need to know this week
- FCA scrutiny of debt advice is intensifying with deep file reviews but no planned update to CONC 8, despite 11 years without revision.
- Misalignment between CONC 7 and CONC 8 highlights inconsistencies in FCA guidance, especially around vulnerability, signposting, and digital tools.
- New Guaranteed Standards Scheme (GSS) reforms will see water customers in England receive automatic compensation up to £2,000 for service failures from 1 October 2025.
- Over 1.66 million children are now affected by the two-child benefit cap, raising poverty concerns; StepChange highlights the growing link between family size and financial hardship.
- CP24-28 on operational resilience and third-party reporting will become policy in H2 2025; relevant to firms handling client money or administering DMPs.
- Fair4AllFinance finds that 24% of financially vulnerable UK households have no savings; over 10 million have reduced or stopped saving.
- TransUnion reports over 1 in 7 UK adults use Buy Now, Pay Later for small purchases; 16% of users choose it for minimal credit checks.
- New Citizens Advice and Money Advice Trust report proposes a simplified, two-pathway insolvency model, integrating advice as a universal gateway.
- IVA Protocol 2025 emphasises vulnerability notifications, product sales data, and early failure analysis; discussed at Grantham creditor event on 10 July.
- ‘Tell Us Once’ frameworks stress co-design in vulnerability data-sharing; FCA increasingly referencing such practices in supervisory work.
- Consumer Energy Debt Advice (CEDA) service launched, supporting energy customers through a new charity-led, multi-partner model.
- New partnerships (Lantern–DebtStream, BPO–MEGA.AI) reflect increased sector collaboration to improve digital debt resolution and customer outcomes.
Read the full summary – here
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